This was my third cruise (cruised with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity before) and my boyfriend's first. I had been talking up my previous cruise experiences to him, so we were really looking forward to this vacation and unfortunately were severely disappointed by Carnival. First off, the drastic difference in service was very noticeable - no welcome aboard drinks, no friendly smiles greeting you. Whenever we asked an employee onboard a question, they didn't seem to care and could provide no help. They seemed to be more interested in socializing with one another than assisting passengers.

The boat had endless lines for everything - buffet, customer service, elevators, shows, etc. The Lido buffet line took 20 minutes to get through, and there was a separate 10 minute line for dessert. We had one great waiter and one very rude waiter during dinners, the latter seemed to be annoyed whenever we wanted to order more food. Speaking of the food, it was bland and meats were always overcooked. Many of the sauces were on the same level as Applebee's.

Carnival's main focus seemed to be to get people drunk in hopes that they will spend more money. Half of the events cost additional money (Bingo) or were scams (art auction, jewelry sale, etc). We tried to go to the comedy club many nights in a row but it was always overly packed. The one night we finally watched the show, we stood the entire time. Because of the cruise's price point and focus on drinking, many of the other passengers were obnoxious and loud. It was not enjoyable to be around class-less drunks yelling remarks at the comedian. Read more